Mono, Bobby – The Mystery of the Light Shining Out of That Tower For Some Reason

You know, pseudonyms in small press comics probably aren’t a bad idea these days. It’s easy enough to find way too much information about just about anybody through a simple Google search, so there are bound to be a few things that you put into comics in your 20’s that you might not want people to see when you’re in your 40’s. That’s just my roundabout way of confirming that “Bobby Mono” is not the real name of this man. Or woman, as it isn’t his/her real name. Anyway, that title is one for the ages, and the back cover keeps the illusion going that this is part of a series of books aimed at children aged 10-14, complete with several other fake titles of other volumes. I’m not going to spoil a single one of them here, but there are some real doozies in that pile. Now that we’ve established what this comic is not (and I loved his note on the inside cover apologizing for the deception), what exactly is it? It’s a pile of short comics, most of which are in full color. Stories in here include George Washington and his cherry tree (if his dad had different punishment methods), an utterly unexpected version of Bobby looking for love in all the wrong places, the actual ending of “A Christmas Carol,” the Beard Fairy determining who gets to have a beard, a story about a ninja (which you’ll enjoy for the ending, or not, depending purely on what you find funny), “this is no tunnel,” babies in trouble and some mildly realistic Super Mario Bros. action. There’s also a handy chart on which beards have been deemed acceptable by Bobby, but you may be dismayed to learn that the only two options are a regular moustache or no facial hair at all. This lazy shaver would disagree, but I’m far too lazy about such things to make a fuss. What about the accidental beard? I guess that mostly happens to hobos. Overall this is a pile of funny stuff, and the guy obviously has enough love for the old video games that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. Yes, I am shallow, but the other funny stuff should help the rest of you folks along. $6, unless you see him at a convention or something. Full color books aren’t cheap.